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Fraser Park Preschool-7

Burdekin Avenue

Murray Bridge

South Australia 5253

Values education is a whole school focus and provides the framework

for whole school wellbeing and the behaviour code for all our school

community members.

2012

ANNUAL REPORT

School Motto:

“Together we are learning for the future.”

School Values:

Caring Respect Fun Enthusiasm

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ARTICLE PAGE

Title Page 1

Index 2

School Personnel 3

Overview 4

School Highlights 4

Restorative Justice 5

Family Partnerships 6

Accelerated Literacy 7

Program Achieve 8

Languages 10

Child Parent Centre Report 11-12

Students with Disabilities 14

IT Report 14-15

Strategic Directions & Targets 16

Promote Student's Inclusion & Wellbeing & Staff Wellbeing 17

Professional Learning & Self Review 17

Enrolment 18

Attendances 18

Progression Ratios 18-19

Student Achievement in Reading and Numeracy Yr 5-7 ATSI 19-20

Student Achievement in Reading and Numeracy Yr 3-5 & Yr 5 -7 19-20

Learning Together 21-35

Student Comments 43

Families Say 44

Diagrams and Graphs

Student Enrolments - Specific Populations (FTE) 2012 18

Progression Ratios by year level 2012 18

Literacy and Numeracy Data Yr 5-7 ATSI 18

Literacy and Numeracy Data Yr 3-5 & Yr 5-7 19-20

Appendices

1A Fraser Park Preschool-7 School 2011-2012 - Staff survey 36

1B Fraser Park Preschool -7 School 2011-2012 - Parent Opinion survey 36

1C Fraser Park Preschool -7 School 2011-2012 - Student Opinion Survey of Teachers & Teaching 37

1D Fraser Park Preschool -7 School 2011-2012 - CPC Parent Opinion Survey 37

2A Attendance - 2012 38

3A Finance Statement 2012 39

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SCHOOL PERSONNEL

Principal: Michelle Kamma

School Counsellor: Isabella Zoanetti Term 1/

Russell Gilbert Term 2,3,4

Learning Together Coordinator Susie Bowden Term 1,2,3/ Joanne Bros Term 4

Resource Centre: Anne Hein

Cleaners: Wayne’s Cleaning

Grounds: David Lacey / Ian Randell/ Rita Pederson/ Bok Dot

Volunteers: Ros Jones / Lyn Mason / Linda Crawford

Aileen Hill / Ian Randell

Specialist Teachers:

Singing and drama Brad Hill

Values Education Russell Gilbert

Literacy Mentor Teacher Kristen Baur

Aboriginal Education Daniel Robin / Aunty Trish / Ms Kamma

Computing Coordinator Daniel Robin

Physical Education Russell Gilbert

Special Education Russell Gilbert

Mother Tongue Maintenance Daniel Robin

Languages Daniel Robin

Teaching Staff:

Preschool Brad Hill

Reception/Year 1 Kristen Baur

Years 2,3,4,5 Fusipala Kalauta

Years 5,6,7 Russell Gilbert/ Neil Hooper

Occupational Health & Safety Officer Daniel Robin

Working Together / Family Partnerships Russell Gilbert / Aunty Trish Lloyd / Michelle

Kamma

Joy Club Chris Brown / Desma Blake/ Daryl Mark

Music Club Brad Hill

Canteen Roslyn Jones / Lyn Mason/ Linda Crawford/ Wayne

Worden

School Chaplin Desma Blake/ Daryl Mark

ACEO Aunty Trish Lloyd

Ancillary staff:

Finance Officer Ray Morris Term 1,2/ Julie Cawte Term 3,4

Front Office Julie Cawte Term 1,2/ Kiah Mann Term 3,4

Student Support: Jo Dewhirst Ajith Bol

Julie Schulz Glenys Wilson

Heather Davis

Aileen Hill

Jo Larson

Gloria Ebsworth

Leeann Jones

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FRASER PARK PRESCHOOL-7 SCHOOL

LOCATION NUMBER 1382

ANNUAL REPORT 2012

OVERVIEW

Fraser Park Preschool-7 is a category one school with a complex and rewarding

school community. There is a high turnover of students with many transient families.

This impacts on the provisions of educational programs for students.

Indigenous students make up approximately 55% of the school population. There are

30% of students identified for support under the Disabilities Policy and NEP’s.

The Fraser Park Preschool-7 community worked in a strong partnership with the

school community during 2012 to accomplish the goals of the Site Improvement

Plans.

“Learning Together for the Future” is our motto- 2012 has been a year with a strong

focus on learning and working together to achieve this goal.

“Children and Families are at the centre of everything we do.”

SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS 2012

Accelerated Literacy

Preschool-7

Mother Tongue (Ngarrindjeri)

Community Voice through

Family Partnerships

(Indigenous Initiative)

Upgrade of Preschool

Whole school Fruit Program

SAPSASA, Sports Day, Fun Run, Swimming

Breakfast Club, supported by Soroptimists

Program Achieve Preschool-7

Student Voice, Student Forums and Sharing Circle

Staff Professional Learning, Accelerated Literacy, Program

Differentiated Curriculum, Achieve, SACSA, Restorative Justice, Cultural

Competency

Book Week Celebrations

Premiers Reading Challenge

Premiers Be Active Challenge

Restorative Justice

NEP teaching targets set, and evaluated

DIAF Validation to 2013

End of Year Concert

Christmas Pageant

New Library Construction & completion

School Bus

Sam Oshodi. African Drumming.

Community Artists- Elisabeth Dekoke

Establishment of Yunan Pulgi, Family Centre

School Chaplain

SMART Practice embedded

Families supporting learning

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RESTORATIVE JUSTICE 2012

We continue to use restorative practices to help students to help solve their conflicts,

sort out problems they are having or re-engage with their learning. Restorative

practices are about teaching children the skills they need to understand how their

actions affect other children or adults, come to a practical solution together and talk

about how they would manage the situation if the same thing happened again.

Restorative practices have had a positive impact on students, with Teacher’s reporting

that students are using the language of restorative practices when they are having

conflicts with other students.

To support our use of restorative practices we have continued our “re-think” process,

with children having the option to use our withdrawal room to help them calm down

or to work with an SSO, chaplain, or school counsellor to help them with the

restorative practices We have also introduced “The Incredible 5 Point Scale” to

compliment this process. The 5 point scale is a common language at Fraser Park

which allows students to rate their emotional levels from a one which is happy to a

five which is out of control. By using this scale we teach students to catch themselves

at a 3 and develop strategies to calm themselves down, teaching the important skills

of self-regulation. This process helps to get students into the right head set to be

engaged and do their best learning.

Russell Gilbert

Counsellor

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FAMILY PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM 2012

The ‘Family Partnerships’ program has continued this year with Di Grigg, ACEO Aunty Trish and Russell Gilbert facilitating regular meetings. These meetings have allowed us to continue the great work of bringing school and Aboriginal families together in a meaningful way. The ‘Family Partnerships’ program has been reviewing the Family Partnership agreement we created in 2010. This has been a valuable process as many families involved were not involved in making the original document. Meetings have also focused on creating sight word kits, using the oxford word list and workshops on how to use these to help students with their reading and sight word recognition. Through this process we have used staff members to strengthen relationships between families and school staff. Aboriginal student attendance has remained high. Every student has improved their reading levels. LAN data indicates an improvement in learning outcomes for Aboriginal students. The number of Aboriginal families involved with Governing Council has increased as has communication between home and school via staff members Aunty Trish (ACEO), Glenys Wilson (SSO) and Gloria Ebsworth (SSO)

Aboriginal Education Team

Daniel Robin, Aunty Trish, Russell Gilbert, Michelle Kamma

Teaching staff have supported the

program, giving them the opportunity

to develop their relationships with

community members.

Digital literacy skills are supporting

families to tell their story

Learning is fun

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ACCELERATED LITERACY

Fraser Park Preschool – 7 completed the 7th

year of Accelerated Literacy (AL) in

2012. It has been fantastic to have a steady group of teachers who have now taught

using AL methodology for an extended period of time. Teachers are continuing to

improve their understanding of Accelerated Literacy, as well as how to more

effectively implement literacy activities in classrooms. Site data reflects improved

student outcomes in literacy and in particular reading, this progress has been sustained

over time.

The AL consultant for 2012 was Holly Godfrey who supported teachers and students

in classrooms as well as providing Training and Development to support teachers with

planning, at the beginning of each term. Holly also supported SSO’s with ‘Read with

your Student’ workshops. Holly visited the school four times a term, this is a great

support for teachers.

Our 2012 Running Records data has continued to show improvement for students, we

are focused on improving this data further, with reading still being a strong focus in

all classrooms and at home with families supporting the reading three times per day

initiative.

“Working with families makes a difference to students learning outcomes”

Kristen Baur

Literacy Focus Teacher

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PROGRAM ACHIEVE

Program Achieve is a curriculum for teaching students how to set attainable goals and

be happier in their school and general life. An emphasis of Program Achieve is to

teach a person that to change their feelings or behaviours; they need to change their

thoughts. The program teaches students how to have confidence-building thoughts,

rather than confidence-destroying thoughts. Program Achieve covers eight areas with

three sub-sections each:

- Confidence

- Effort and Persistence

- Happenings, Thoughts, Feelings, Behaviours

- Self Acceptance/Self-Esteem

- Goal Setting

- Time Management and Organisation

- Making Friends

- Handling Conflict.

Program Achieve is a whole school language which underpins the teaching of social

skills and to help develop behaviours that will help students become successful in the

wider community. Program Achieve and the concepts taught in program achieve are

reinforced through class discussions in “Circle Time”. If there has been an issue in the

class or a problem at recess or lunch the class is able to discuss the issue and use

common strategies to help manage their own problems.

Mr Hill and Daryl have been incorporating the skills of Program Achieve into the

Drama Productions that we present at school events such as Assemblies and Family

evenings. Each play chooses one of the values taught and reinforces what students

could do if they have similar problems.

Russell Gilbert

Counsellor

Students from the Drama in Action group performing

a sketch at the Family Evening.

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LANGUAGES

French and Ngarrindjeri are taught at Fraser.

Learning languages have shown that it improve students literacy in

general. It also promotes understanding of other cultures and acceptance

of differences.

What one does learn is that, the similarities in human expectations and

hopes for a humane society, is a shared global phenomenon.

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Our Ngarrindgeri learner pride and self-esteem is reinforced by the

knowledge that their language and culture is also valued and recognized

here at Fraser Park.

Daniel Robin

Language Teacher

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Preschool Annual Report 2012

This year the Fraser Park Preschool saw the continuation of the Preschool’s Literacy

and Numeracy program, play-based curriculum, Accelerated Literacy, Have a go

Spaghettio, Child Protection Curriculum and the availability of daily fruit and

wellbeing lunches. We also strengthened our relationship with the school and with

Learning Together.

At the end of term two I successfully completed my studies to upgrade my

qualifications to meet the National Quality Standards’. I now happily have a Bachelor

of Early Childhood Education degree.

Preschool Environment

This year the preschool had a new fence and a chicken/rabbit

enclosure installed. Preliminary steps have been made to

upgrade our kitchen and toilets in 2013.

Literacy and Numeracy

Literacy and Numeracy continued to be a focus in the 2012 preschool program. These

areas have been approached in a variety of ways:

The Literacy and Numeracy area

We have continued to use this area for specific

learning opportunities devoted to developing

literacy and numeracy skills. The children have

had opportunities to work on name identification,

writing, pen control, pen grip, and letter

formation. We have also continued our focus on oral language this

year. Some of the numeracy activities available in this area have included number

reading and writing, counting, and the exploration of weight, spacial awareness,

pattern, colour and shape.

Creative Play-based Literacy and Numeracy.

Socio-dramatic play has been used to develop communication,

self-regulation and social skills as well as symbolic thought.

When involved in socio-dramatic play the children have had

opportunities to speak and negotiate with each other, share and

distribute, care for others (including ‘babies’), write, count, use

clocks, dress themselves and manipulate dolls. Design and construction activities such

as building with blocks, lego and construction kits also encourage creative play and

the consequential development of symbolic

transformations that are integral for literacy and numeracy

skills. The children also used the “Small World” play set to

explore their world, creative thought and oral language.

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Literacy and Numeracy opportunities during mat times

During ‘mat times’ individual children were called upon to identify and analyse their

names. Singing songs, enjoying stories, prasticing the “5 L’s of listening” and

responding to roll call were used to develop some of the skills necessary for ‘school

readiness’. Specific teaching during these times also covered skills such as counting,

telling the time, and knowing the days of the week. Opportunities were also provided

for children to express their ideas and give opinions.

Accelerated Literacy.

The texts that we worked on during Accelerated Literacy in

2012 were “The Pear in the Pear Tree”, “Picasso the Green

Tree Frog”, “Flies” fact sheet, and “Rosie’s Walk”. The work

done on these texts included looking at book knowledge such

as front and back cover, title, author, title page, where the

story starts and directionality of text. Print concepts covered

included words, letters, words, recognising individual words and letters, how spaces

are used and labels, scientific language such as habitat. Some of the activities

included were deconstructing pictures, acting out stories, determining character

motivations and emotions, increasing vocabulary and exploring story content through

play and art activities.

ICT

In the preschool this year the children have had opportunities to

work with different technologies. The computer microscope in

our science area is often available for the children to use, and the

children’s computer with educational games is on offer to them

each day. Another technology available to the children has been

cameras; digital and polaroid.

Learner Wellbeing

In order to foster an environment which encourages comfortable and confident

learners, in 2012, the following programs and activities were continued.

Identity Webs, Family Trees, Safety Nets and Kindy Banner.

These activities allowed the children to identify and explore who they

are as individuals, family members, preschool members and members

of the wider community. The children also were supported to attend

Jacob Burton’s Memorial Service. Jacob was part of the Fraser Park

community and died from an asthma attack on 21/11/2012.

Visits

To build confidence and develop social skills the

preschool children have had opportunities to interact

with visitors from Fraser Park school and Learning

Together. This included weekly visits from the

reception/1 class for singing followed by a play time.

The preschool children also attended school assemblies,

joined the reception/1 class in the library, and participated in special events such as

the Fraser Park Fun Run, Sports Day and Reconciliation Day celebrations. Learning

Together also ran their “Eating and Playing Together Program” in the Preschool. This

was developed to strengthen the relationship between Learning Together and the

Preschool.

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This year we have had Sam Oshodi visit regularly to play African drums with the

children. These types of experiences help widen the children’s understanding of who

we are and where we fit in the world.

Daily Fruit and Wellbeing lunches

Having fruit available for the children to eat throughout the day and

providing lunch for children without food, helps the children maintain

concentration, as they are less likely to be hungry.

Have-a-go-Spaghettio

We continued with the program “Have-a-go-Spaghettio” this year. This program is

based on Program Achieve and it specifically caters for 3 to 6 year olds. The main

emphasis of this program is to look at positive and negative thinking which influences

our feelings and our actions.

Child Protection Curriculum

As part of the DECS initiative to keep all children safe, as a response to the SA

Government’s “Keeping them Safe” child protection reform we ran the Child

Protection Curriculum Program. This enabled the children to look at personal safety

and body knowledge.

Indigenous Learners

Each Indigenous child has an Personalised Learning Plan

developed for him/her. These plans allowed us to identify

each child’s strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes,

giving us a strong sense of the Indigenous children, and

how to best facilitate their learning. Considering these

plans helps me to design programs and activities for the

preschool staff to use with the children throughout the

year. Some strategies used to help engage a number of

our more active Indigenous children were to make a

concerted effort to have outdoor play available as much

as practicable and to have physically challenging activities such as climbing ropes and

walls available. I also developed programs being mindful of incorporating Indigenous

perspectives across the curriculum.

Enrolments

2012 began with 17 full time children and 3 pre-entry children enrolled in the

preschool, of these there are 13 Indigenous enrolments.

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STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Fraser Park has 54% of students who have been identified as needing Negotiated

Education Program (NEP). NEP students are supported in class with SSO time and

targeted programs. Students needs are identified along with their learning strengths

and form the basics of modified curriculum requirements.

Each term NEP targets are set and provide formative assessment for the years

learning.

Important outcomes for 2012 have been every student improving their reading

outcomes and all students meeting their NEP targets.

I.T REPORT 2012

We started our year with several problems with our equipment. Slowly we overcame

the bugs until all computers, printers and servers worked as intended.

Keeping on top of problems, maintenance and maintaining an IT knowledge base is

not an easy task in a small school with limited resources.

We value the interaction our students get with the World Wide Webb. Our students

are confident users partly because of the ample opportunities we give them, and

access to computers and the structured teaching they receive, which makes use of this

system as an integral part of the classroom teaching.

The computing room

Our Yunan Pulgi (Family Centre). New smart soft furniture has been brought in,

including TV, blue ray player, radio etc. New desktop computers have been included

to make this area a welcome and useful room for community access.

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We have in a few years become more dependent on Wi-Fi, diverse operating systems,

and platforms, and this is not likely to change soon with smart phone and tablets

usage, which our students are bound to incorporate in their learning. Our school

embraces new technologies, and offers the best of what is currently available, as well

adapting any older technology (such as XBoxes) in our teaching methodology.

We have embarked in planning a wireless system which will allow us to have network

access in all teaching areas of our buildings (including outdoor areas) and which will

replace our small existing disparate access points. This is intended to offer not only

greater coverage but also greater capacity, as we are seeing the inclusion of many

different connected devices in our network.

Finally we have ordered our first 40 iPads, which we hope will be of great benefit,

particularly for student with disabilities. We will make those available as soon as our

new wireless system is in place. This wireless system, which is state of the Art, has

been provided at reduced cost to us by Murray Office and Computers, and we thank

them.

Daniel Robin

IT Coordinator

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STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS AND TARGETS

PRIORITY ONE

Curriculum renewal which increases student’s achievements in Literacy, Numeracy

and ICT.

OUTCOMES

LITERACY

National Curriculum

Accelerated Literacy Preschool- 7

Play policy

ESL scaling for all students

Common assessment tests for all students / Running Records Rec-7

Early years Focus Teacher and Accelerated Literacy Coordinator

Focus on Reading three times a day and at home

Phonics small group focus

Sight words (oxford)

NUMERACY

National Curriculum planning reporting

Numeracy Block whole school

Mentoring Rosslyn Shepherd Numeracy Consultant

PRIORITY TWO

PROMOTE STUDENTS’ INCLUSION AND WELLBEING.

During 2012 we began the journey of becoming a SMART Practice school, providing

us in partnership with families a framework for practice.

Communicate effectively with students

Recognise development needs appropriate to age

To respect culture and special needs

Use current research to inform practice

Ethical practice and frameworks and respectful process for all children and

their families

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PRIORITY THREE

PROMOTE STAFF WELLBEING.

Staff opinion surveys identified high levels of satisfaction, highlighting the

strengthened resilience of the Fraser Park team.

Fraser Park Preschool-7 is a category one school and the complexities are

challenging, therefore the resilience and morale of staff must remain a priority at all

times.

Strategies to support staff in 2012.

Regular Performance Management each term, focused on continuous learning

for all.

Social Coordinator.

Shared morning tea / lunches.

PAC – agenda/staff meeting time.

Values Education / Program Achieve, Restorative Justice

Induction and support for new staff.

Clear Grievance Procedures.

Open Door Policy with principal

Regional Office support

Ten minute meetings each morning to improve communication

Gratitude Wall

Soup Days

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Ongoing learning for staff and the school community is valued at Fraser Park, during

2012 our focus was Accelerated Literacy, Reading, Restorative Justice, Cultural

Competency, SMART practice and Differentiated Curriculum.

SELF REVIEW

2012 has seen the improvement journey continue with all staff collaborating and

working in partnership with families to develop a Family Agreement, Diamond of

needs and a map for identifying a student’s support circle. Stand out achievement has

been every student improving their reading levels. This improvement has been

sustained from 2009.

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REQUIRED DATA

1. ENROLMENTS

Enrolments by Specific Population- FTE 2012

School ATSI NESB ESL Disabilities School Card Total School

1382-Fraser Park Primary 35.0 1.0 33.0 29.0 20.0 71.0

Enrolments by year level-2012

School RE Yr1 Yr2 Yr3 Yr4 Yr5 Yr6 Yr7 Total

1382-Fraser Park

Primary

16 9 12 7 5 6 11 15 81

ATTENDANCE

RE Yr1 Yr2 Yr3 Yr4 Yr5 Yr6 Yr7 Total

1382-Fraser Park P.S 87.5 91.2 88.0 87.1 88.1 87.5 86.8 83.0 86.9

PROGRESSION RATIOS

Fraser Park has a long history of a significant number of students who are transient

due to families moving from town to town due to cultural and family reasons.

YEAR 5-7 ATSI READING

100% of Aboriginal students who sat the test in year 5 and again in year 7 were in the

lower 25% of improvement

RE-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6 6-7

DISTRICT 79.9 98.9 95.5 104.9 99.9 101.6 99.4

STATE 80.7 101.9 100.9 101.0 99.9 98.5 99.2

1382-Fraser Park Primary School 75.0 200.0 175.0 100.0 75.0 122.2 107.1

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YEAR 5-7 ATSI NUMERACY

100% of Aboriginal students who sat the test in year 5 and again in year 7 were in the

lower 25% of improvement.

YEARS 3-5 READING

50% of all students who sat the test in year 3 and then again in year 5 were in the

middle band of improvement and 50% in the lower band of improvement.

YEARS 3-5 NUMERACY

50% of students who sat the test in year 3 and then again in year 5 were in the lower

25% of improvement and 50% in the middle band of improvement.

YEAR 5 – 7 READING

50% of students who sat the test in year 5 and then again in year 7 were in the middle

50% of improvement and 50% in the lower band of improvement.

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YEAR 5 – 7 NUMERACY

50% of students who sat the test in year 5 and then again in year 7 were in the lower

25% of improvement and 50% in the middle band of improvement.

SUMMARY

Numeracy:

Numeracy is in need of review and a whole school focus to improve outcomes and

practice for students and staff, in 2013 we will be using a process of personalised

learning in numeracy, along with the Quick Smart program.

Literacy:

The results are improving, and sustained since 2009 however there must be continued

sustained rigour in addressing literacy outcomes for all students and in particular

the Indigenous students.

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LEARNING TOGETHER

Learning Together

Annual Report 2012

Site: Murray Bridge

'Learning Together' is a DECD program for families with children

aged birth to four. The program is based on national and international

research affirming the crucial importance of the very early years of

life in laying the foundation for children's learning and well-being.

The Murray Bridge Learning Together Centre includes the program at Fraser

Park, 3 outreach programs and Learning Together @ Home in Murray Bridge and

Victor Harbour. In total I manage 3 teachers, 9 Early Childhood Staff and 2

Learning Together @ Home fieldworkers. I am the only full time staff member

working on site.

Our goal at Learning Together Murray Bridge is to engage families in their

children’s learning from prebirth. Learning Together focusses on

the importance of children's oral language development, children being read to

at an early age, the development of children's strong dispositions to learning,

and the critical role that parents play in supporting their children. Development

of the program took account of research highlighting the benefits of a

preventative approach toward possible later difficulties for all children in

vulnerable communities, rather than an approach where some children and

families are targeted for intervention. This is early intervention at its best.

All Learning Together Programs feature the dimensions of:

Adult learning and support Adult/child engagement Child involvement in learning

The aims of Learning Together are to:

Improve early literacy learning opportunities

for children

Assist families to support their child’s early

learning and development.

Support parents own learning and

determination

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Strengthen communities through interagency

collaboration and coordination in the provision

of family focussed programs and services

Promote and support positive relationships

between families and early childhood services

and schools Context:

Learning Together is about working with families to build respectful

relationships while building and supporting parents’ understanding of their

children’s learning and improving children’s literacy learning. Learning

Together Murray Bridge is held in the Fraser Park CPC-7 School. Murray

Bridge is a regional centre approximately 80 kilometres from Adelaide.

It services towns and communities within the region, including Mannum,

Tailem Bend, Jervois, Wellington, Mypolonga, Coomandook, Coonalpyn,

Karoonda and Meningie. The Murray Bridge community has people from a

large number of ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Turkish, Afghani,

Korean, Chinese, Sudanese, and Bhutanese). There is also a significant

Aboriginal population.

There are a large numbers of sole parent

households that are generally headed by women.

Many families have high welfare dependency and

there are significant levels of physical domestic

violence and alcohol and substance abuse within

the community. The area is predominantly

Housing Trust and rental, which is significantly

affected by the degree of unemployment, which

is impacting upon the third generation of some

families. Some sections of the community are

characterised by significant poverty. The lack

of access to transport within the area means

that many families do not access as many

services as they would like. In addition, the lack

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of affordable and available housing has become

even more of an issue with some families forced

to live together or couch surfing. To address

the complex needs of the client group I have

developed strong links with a range of other

agencies, including Child Youth and Women’s

Health Services and local community health

services, Centacare, Families SA, Communities

for Children, Family Day Care and Anglicare. This

has further enhanced outcomes for families as

their broader needs are being addressed.

As a Learning Together Manager I work with parents to assist them

support and extend their children’s learning. This involves groups

including supported playgroups, parents making books for their children

about their children, parent education groups, SACE for parents, Teenage

parent groups, family outings, Getting Together family borrowing of

literacy packs and parent TAFE study groups. I work alongside staff from

local schools and preschools to develop their capacity by sharing their

knowledge of working with families and literacy in the early years.

A range of parents join Learning Together programs including young

(teenage) parents and Aboriginal parents. Many parents did not complete

their schooling. Learning about their children’s learning has led to a

renewed interest from parents in their own learning and also given them

opportunity to form positive relationships and experiences with educators

and the schooling sector. We hope as a result when their children begin

preschool and school, the parents bring a range of knowledge and literacy

experiences, which enhance the partnership between teachers and

parents. This in turn enhances children’s literacy development and

enthusiasm for learning.

DATA

Attendance Data for term 4:

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W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7 W8 W9 W10 Total

Monday Playgroup 33 42 51 37 45 58 37 52 46 0 401

Monday - Afternoon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tuesday Morning group 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 122 122

Tuesday Teens n Tots 4 6 4 0 5 4 2 4 6 0 35

Tuesday Pre-Walkers 34 19 23 14 20 29 10 21 23 0 193

Twilight Playgroup 0 0 0 0 0 51 0 0 0 0 51

Wednesday Playgroup 40 38 33 34 47 36 41 39 42 0 350

Wednesday Getting Together FP 14 6 11 0 13 6 8 3 5 0 66

SACE 23 39 24 30 45 22 35 25 0 0 243

Friday Healthy Ways Playgroup 27 42 24 33 39 25 27 36 39 0 292

Friday Callington OR 8 11 7 7 8 3 7 3 7 0 61

Tailem Bend OR 10 14 0 6 13 14 9 12 15 0 93

Wednesday FP group 0 0 4 5 8 2 14 4 5 0 42

Murray Bridge North OR 18 17 17 11 16 17 9 19 15 0 139

Susie - One on Ones 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

CaFHS - New Mums Group 0 0 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15

Other 0 0 0 17 0 10 0 15 0 0 42

Agency 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total Term 4 211 234 213 194 259 277 199 233 203 122 2145

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OTHER LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Formal learning opportunities:

ANNUAL ATTENDANCE DATA: please include NP figures in this

information

We were

involved in

many

community

events with

other agencies

this year but

have not

collected attendance data on these events.

As the manager of the centre I had leave in term 4 and this possibly

explains the drop of attendances at our site, Learning Together is a relationship based

program and despite a skilled person as replacement there was a rupture of

relationships.

SACE data TAFE data Uni Data

Total number

enrolled

28 Total number

enrolled

5 Total number

enrolled

number completing

this year

1 number

completing this

year

number completing

this year

numbers continuing 24 numbers

continuing

5 numbers continuing

number of

Aboriginal

enrolments

4 number of

Aboriginal

enrolments

number of

Aboriginal

enrolments

Attendances

Term 1 2894

Term 2 2430

Term 3 2841

Term 4 2145

Holiday programs / other events

TOTAL 10310

Number of families currently

attending (total including NP)(These

numbers should match the number of enrolments in the

Learning Together Data Base)

151

Number of families

currently attending (NP)

31

Number of children currently

attending (total including NP)(These

numbers should match the number of enrolments in the Learning Together Data Base)

200 Number of children

currently attending (NP)

43

- 26 -

PROGRAM INFORMATION:

Group Information:

Please fill out this table for each group that you have run this year.

Group Name Location Focus/Rational

e

Level

Base /

2 / 3

/ 4

National

Partnership

Yes/no

Length *

Partner Agencies

Monday am Playgroup

Learning

Together Fraser

Park

Children and

parents engage

in play

together.

Staff role

model notice

and naming,

everyday

learning and

play being the

vehicle for

learning.

Extended song

and dance

time.

Base NO ongoing Murray Mallee

Health

Pre-walkers Playgroup

Tuesday pm

Learning

Together Fraser

Park

Children and

parents engage

in play

together.

Babies have

safe tummy

time and play

while we chat

and provide

developmental

support from

Physio. Discuss

attachment

and the

importance of

face to face

and circle of

security.

Base NO ongoing Murray Mallee

Health and

Communities for

Children

Teens n Tots

Tuesday pm

Learning

Together Fraser

Park

Group of teen

Mums who are

studying their

SACE with us

who need some

extra case

management

time. We have

a week of

study (started

COS) and a

week of

activity chosen

by teens when

we set the

program

together.

2 NO Ongoing Murray Bridge HS

ICAN

FLO funding

Learning Together

Playgroup

Wednesday am

Learning

Together Fraser

Park

Children and

parents engage

in play

Base NO ongoing Murray Mallee

Health Team and

CYHFS nurses

- 27 -

together.

Staff role

model notice

and naming,

everyday

learning and

play being the

vehicle for

learning.

Getting Together

Wednesday pm

Learning

Together Fraser

Park

Literacy is an

everyday

experience and

children are

fascinated

with books

about

themselves.

Parents learn

about digital

technology and

increase their

own literacy

skills while

producing

books for

their children.

2 NO Ongoing

This is

now a

study

group of

all sorts.

Discussing

parenting

etc.

Photograp

hy

teacher

dropping

in

fortnightl

y.

SACE

Learning

Together Fraser

Park

Parents have

an opportunity

to study SACE

based on their

strengths and

learning about

parenting.

3 NO Ongoing Murray Bridge HS

ICAN

FLO funding

TAFE Learning

Together Fraser

Park

Parents have

opportunity to

study TAFE

CERT 3 in

Children’s

Services

3 NO Year TAFE

ICAN

FLO funding

Healthy Ways Playgroup –

Friday am

Learning

Together Fraser

Park

Children can

learn from

being involved

in cooking

healthy

options

together.

Parents learn

about

everyday

learning

opportunities

with their

children.

Base NO Ongoing Centacare

Twilight Playgroup

Week 5 Tuesdays

6 – 7:30pm

Learning

Together Fraser

Park

For Dad’s and

grandparents

etc. Children

and adults

engage in play

together.

Staff role

model notice

and naming,

Base NO Once a

term

MB Children’s

Centre

Centacare

Fatherhood team

- 28 -

everyday

learning and

play being the

vehicle for

learning.

Learning Together

Playgroup – Callington

Callington

Kindergarten

Children and

parents engage

in play

together.

Staff role

model notice

and naming,

everyday

learning and

play being the

vehicle for

learning.

Base NO Ongoing LT@H

Getting to Know your baby

Learning

Together Fraser

Park

Connecting

with new Mums

in the getting

to know your

baby group

with health

nurses.

Base NO Twice a

term

Murray Mallee

Health

Learning Together

Outreach Playgroup @

North School

Murray Bridge

North School

Children and

parents engage

in play

together.

Staff role

model notice

and naming,

everyday

learning and

play being the

vehicle for

learning.

Base YES Ongoing North School

North Kindy

Getting Together

Outreach @ Tailem Bend

Tailem Bend

Primary School

Literacy is an

everyday

experience and

children are

fascinated

with books

about

themselves.

Parents learn

about digital

technology and

increase their

own literacy

skills while

producing

books for

their children.

2 YES ongoing Tailem Bend

Primary

Any comments about this year:

- 29 -

Every Program is a joy to facilitate. Getting Together is a group that may

have to go if SACE goes to 2 days as I will need to fit a parenting group

in that spot. I will try and be creative and fit everything in.

Circle of Security and Learning Dispositions are the foundation of our Centre

and are the program that can have the most impact on a family. Some of the

responses from families who have attended parent groups included

I actually get down with them and involve myself in their games not

thinking it’s silly

I let them lead a bit more and observe more

I observe more and think about their learning

I make it (reading) a routine everyday

I involve the children more and ask them what they think about the story

I interact especially in the car (singing)

I know that I have to be bigger/stronger/wiser and kind ALWAYS

Having the chance to stop and watch my child playing and interacting with

others has helped see him differently.

I see her react/interact with other children. Her personality and

interactions is easier seen and understood by me.

Very confident and free to be, explore and play here, I learn. I see she is

a brilliant communicator.

They come to me for help more and aren’t scared to ask me

My kids are more social and involve other children easily. They’re great

with sharing.

I am a better parent – I can be a great parent with Learning together

Learning Together enjoys a wonderful partnership with Murray Mallee

Health and The Children and Families Team. The team are a wonderful

support for families, take referrals, refer clients to us and attend as

many sessions as their budgets allow. It would be great to be able to

have them attend weekly as they did in the past but budget cuts are an

issue all around. A CAFHS health nurse attends weekly to a morning

playgroup to weigh and measure babies as well as give advice when

needed. The importance of this connection is extremely high for our

families who live with trauma in their lives, it allows them to build

relationships and break down barriers before they are ready to accept

advice.

ICAN has funded our SACE program through the flexible learning options

(Flo) funding. This allows our parents to complete their schooling and in

turn realise the importance of education for their children. Parents

attending Learning Together also builds skills and enhances their

parenting strengths which in turn will allow their children to engage more

successfully with education once in a more formal setting. The FLO

funding supports our teachers, support staff as this isn’t possible without

- 30 -

crèche and resources. Elona Koop is a very supportive leader of the

ICAN program. The ICAN Murray Area Management Committee has also

approved our application for Community Partnership Grant funding, for

‘The sky is the limit…’ program application. This will be overnight camps

that focus on wellbeing and personal development for our SACE Mums,

particularly our Teen mums. One of our Mums was the first ever Murray

Mallee ICAN student to complete her SACE at the end of 2012.

Centacare is very supportive of The Learning Together Centre. Sharon

Young attends our centre on Friday mornings to engage with families and

build relationships. Centacare has also referred families to our Learning

Together @ Home fieldworker. We will endeavour to work together more

in 2013.

Communities for Children have offered training for our staff, organised

community events and the families week celebrations again in 2012.

TAFE have co-facilitated the Cert 3 in Children’s services in 2012 which

has been a wonderful success for our families allowing them to engage in a

second level of education. This also extends their positive experiences

with educators, which helps empower them when their children attend

school and they need to converse with teachers.

Rotary have been a huge support to Learning Together in 2012, supplying

us with car seats for the bus and promising to fund a sandpit.

OPAL are now covering Murray Bridge and we have applied for a grant to

install a cool touch oven, if successful we will be able to extend our

Healthy Ways Playgroup and build parents skills around everyday learning

through cooking.

PARTNERSHIPS WITHIN DECD:

Families SA utilises our service for access visits for families and refers

families to our service for parent groups and play based learning

guidance. I hope that we will build this relationship more in 2013.

2012 has been a year of staff rebuilding at the Tinyeri Children’s centre

so our collaboration has not been as strong as previous years. I hope to

work more closely with Tinyeri and their staff in 2012. Twilight

Playgroup was held at Tinyeri in Term 4 and will be again in term 1, a large

percentage of families who attend Twilight Playgroup are Learning

Together families and it is wonderful to expose them to a new site.

Hopefully we will co-facilitate parent groups in 2013 as this has been a

very effective way of engaging families across the sites in the past.

- 31 -

Murray Bridge High School has been supportive of our SACE program for

Mums. The program is funded through the ICAN FLO funding which at

present is held in a budget within the high school budget. Our school

cards etc are administered through the high school student services. This

year the photography teacher supported some students to complete

photography which was a wonderful opportunity for them and a great way

to see cross site work happening. We are hoping to run an additional

SACE day in 2013 as the group is getting to large. There are new ratios

around crèches in DECD sites which will mean we will have to have

additional Early Childhood Workers, so splitting group into 2 days will

make life easier on all and allow for a deeper engagement of students.

We have been running outreach playgroups at Tailem Bend Primary School

and Murray Bridge North School, as part of the Smarter Schools

National Partnerships and hope to continue this in 2013 with new leaders

on board at both sites. We have worked closely with both school

communities to encourage families to value education, cherish everyday

play and learning, and feel more comfortable in education sites and with

educators.

Fraser Park Primary School have had a year of drumming and included us

in the sessions. The use of music as relaxation and a learning tool has

been great and families have adored Sam and his time fortnightly time

with us.

- 32 -

Planning and reflection:

What were your goals for 2012, and what have you achieved?

I started my 2012 planning goals statement in 2011 with “I am excited

about the year ahead, refocusing and setting new goals around

engagement. Exploring levels of engagement and setting up our site with

intent to engage families at the level they are ready for. Guiding families

with expectations without losing the lightness of spirit, delight and fun

we want children to experience.” I believe this is a journey we are still on.

There is work to do around staff training and reinvigoration as well as

peeling backs the layers of Learning Together – relationships, parenting,

small groups. I want to really imbed a sense of wonder in parents about

their children’s learning and development.

I planned to consult with our families around the site structure and give

more opportunities to share skills and strengths. I have held a series of

consultation meetings and will continue this valuable process. Families

were involved in planning, policy writing, skill sharing and constructive

conversations.

I spoke about National Quality Standards being a wonderful opportunity

for us to reflect on our whole site and our practice in a formal way. We

are embracing the process even though it is not yet required of us and we

are visiting this regularly as a staff team.

I think we are on a journey of constant reflection, purposeful

conversations and site growth and this is a vital element to continue to

achieve what families are reporting to us they want and need.

Our 2012 Family Survey shows evidence we are getting positive outcomes

for families. 85% of parents believe they are a more confident parent,

80% say they understand their child more, 84% say they are more

confident talking to educators, 69% say they read more and 95% say

their children are more confident since attending Learning Together.

- 33 -

What have been the achievements this year?

Achievemnents well – our first Murray Bridge Learning Together SACE graduate YEY –

oh my goodness so proud. Naomi was also ICANS first Murray Bridge graduate. A

huge thankyou to Helen the SACE teacher who puts in a huge effort as well as Naomi.

This is Naomi and her eldest napping at school

when she was about

to give birth to her youngest.

This is Naomi and her Mum,

her Mum was so proud of her and grateful to all involved

for giving this opportunity to finish her schooling.

Teens N Tots is so important and valuable, I would love to spend a lot more

time with this group of teen parents. The difference you can make to

childrens lives through early intervention is so evident. These young parents

have had little role modeling around

parenting and feel very judged by the community. If we can build

relationships and guide their parenting their children have a chance to reach

their full potential.

As part of our yearly survey we asked families what coming to Learning Together

means to them. These typical responses from Murray Bridge families are our highlights

as this is why we are here. These are some of the comments:

Learning Together is a place to breath for my family, especially for my

child. All the staff are so cooperative and caring without LT it would be

tough for me to attend the classes for TAFE-Children’s Services. We

love LT and wish all its success so that more families can get the benefit

from it. It’s (an) awesome experience to be a part of LT Murray Bridge.

Learning Together has been the sanity in my family, helping me find a

balance in my life, better understanding of why my children do what they

do, actions and reactions. I would not be the amazing mum I am today

without The Amazing Team at Learning Together.

Great place to learn great place to meet and speak with other

parents/children. Important for our kids they just love coming. Mum and

dad love it too.

I am able to share the experiences and training. I learn at LT my child

(adult) and their children. I engage at their level and read cues quicker

and respond to needs taking in holistic approach not just what happened

last. Love access to other professionals who visit LT and supportive team

on site. Outstanding service.

- 34 -

The children love coming and look forward to it each week. They enjoy

the company of the other children and have bonded well with all the

educators. It has given them the confidence and is a very good

connection for the children to have with their wider community.

Awesome! What a struggle (parenting it would be) without this fantastic

sharing and learning play environment. Keep it up guys!! Much needed and

hugely positive for all.

What have been the challenges this year?

There have been no challenges this year just bumps that make the

journey interesting. Families are my focus and their struggles are very

real so our issues around service delivery seem insignificant.

There is a constant balancing act between funding issues, managing the

large numbers in attendance and managing the diverse demands of this

position. Ultimately a lot of these issues could be helped with extra

funding for extra teachers; we could then run more groups with smaller

numbers which allows you to guide parents to a deeper level of

engagement.

We will continue to deliver the best possible educational service to our

community that we are able to with what we have.

Forward planning

At the start of 2012 I asked myself ’How can I immerse the site in Learning

Dispositions, circle of security and companionable learning holistically”, as I

cannot fit everyone in a small group - is this possible????? Big questions for the

year.....this question got lost in the journey so I begin this year with this as my

focus. Stay tuned..

In order to keep numbers at a manageable level and continue to work with our

most vulnerable families in smaller groups we need to work a little differently

across the site.

- 35 -

I plan to work closely with other agencies to co-facilitate groups that are

universal and larger, these groups cater for the families who are socially

isolated, need parenting guidance, want children to be interacting with others to

learn the skills they need to reach their full potential and are happy to engage

with a larger range of other adults. If we can spend quality time with each

family in these groups, we can change the way they are thinking about parenting

and children’s development, ultimately avoiding a lot of work and government

funding in later years, this being the ultimate in early intervention for our

community.

Our staff has completed a series of SMART training courses in 2012 and this

will be the platform for creating our environment this year. We will be setting

up a space that is calm, predictable and fun – these are the 3 identifies areas

that have emerged from our training. This is also our parameter for working

with vulnerable families and children injured through trauma. Our staff

language will be calm, predictable and fun with everyone using the same words

from the circle of security program. Our site has a large percentage of families

who are struggling with generational trauma and the relationships staff form

are the balancing point of personal growth and change for families. We will

reflect on this at each staff meeting, ensuring everyone is building and using

these skills. Through training the whole staff in these techniques and having

consistence it means that there is predictability for families and less need for

every parent who enters the building to speak directly with me.

To meet the needs of the community around Circle of Security I will run the

program twice this year and try and take as many referrals from other agencies

as possible. This program will also be a large part of SACE this year with our

goal that every current student will have completed the Circle of Security

program by the end of the year.

I plan to spend a larger amount of time with Learning Together @ Home staff to

refocus their efforts and guide some staff development, I have made

fortnightly times to meet with these staff.

Susie Bowden Manager Learning Together

- 36 -

APPENDIX: 1A

FRASER PARK PRESCHOOL-7 SCHOOL 2011- 2012 - STAFF SURVEY

Scale Score Summary

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Clear goals Development FeedbackRecognition Morale Professional Support Standards Decision Making Discipline Leadership Openness/sharing Role Clear Student Focus

APPENDIX: 1B

FRASER PARK PRESCHOOL-7 SCHOOL 2011- 2012 - PARENT OPINION SURVEY

Scale Score Summary

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Quality of Teaching Learning Outcomes Student Reporting General Environment Customer Responsiveness General Satisfaction

- 37 -

APPENDIX: 1C

FRASER PARK PRESCHOOL-7 SCHOOL 2011- 2012 –STUDENT OPINION SURVEY OF

TEACHERS TEACHING

Scale Score Summary

0

1

2

3

4

Empathy Fairness/Firmness High expectations Feedback Time allocation Teacher energy/enthusiasm Helpful /Responsive Quality of instruction Difficulty of work

APENDIX: 1D

FRASER PARK PRESCHOOL-7 SCHOOL 2011- 2012 -PRESCHOOL PARENT OPINION

SURVEY

Scale Score Summary

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Customer Responsiveness Health,Safety,Nutrition Knowledge of Child Program Staff

- 38 -

APPENDIX: 2A

STAFF ATTENDANCE: 2012

Teaching staff attendance for 2012 was 95%. This is an excellent attendance

given the complexities of the Fraser Park Preschool -7 School.

STAFF RETENTION There was a 100% retention of permanent teaching staff for 2012. This

provided the school community with much needed stability.

- 39 -

- 40 -

- 41 -

- 42 -

- 43 -

Student Comments about coming to Fraser Park

Students were asked what they liked about coming to Fraser Park…

I like being at school to learn reading and writing- Alia (Reception)

I like that my teacher helps me with everything, if I get stuck on something she helps me out.

She has also helped me with maths- Kasey (year 5)

I like my class specially my teacher, she is a good teacher she has helped me learn my maths,

mostly multiplication- Skye (year 4)

I have got better at reading- Hayden (year 4)

I like playing cricket and borrowing books from the library- Renzy (year 6)

I enjoy using the computer room for doing projects- Arron (year 7)

I enjoyed learning about African drumming and playing the drums- Sharri (year 7)

I like maths and learning new things- Sharmaine (year 6)

I like to go out to play with my friends, I also like cricket and soccer and Labs for life-

Damien (year 6)

I like doing fitness games and making and painting things- Nicole year 6

My favourite subject is Maths and Fitness- Chianne (year 4)

My favourite thing about school is playtime. My other favourite things are maths and

spelling- Jye (year 2)

I like good work and the interest in activities, the lovely staff and class mates- Ismail (year 7)

- 44 -

Families Say!

Glenys-

Staff supportive, encouraging.

There are many rich learning

experiences! All cultures are

respected.

Gladys-

The school listens to us.

Melissa-

I love the staff and

how they support my

kids to learn.

Adam-

Our family appreciates the learning

focus at Fraser which includes

families.

Karen-

This school is the

best! My kids learn

here.

Donna-

I love the way Fraser works with

families to solve problems.

Nellie-

‘Deadly’ school.

Gloria-

I know my child’s learning is a

priority.

Rachel-

Fantastic, love the learning and

care for our kids.